It Falters, But Doesn't Miss It's Mark Entirely
After the first few pages of this book, I almost put it down and walked away.
Because, honestly, this isn't the most gripping of tales. We've heard most of this before, and we've seen a lot of these events happen already. But this book really isn't about that, I discovered. This is about the in-between moments, the relationships, and the team actually coming together to make something of themselves. And, despite some awkward dialogue and okay art, it works.
The basic premise is that we watch the original five X-Men come together and observe how they interact with one another, mostly on their off time. We watch Beast leave the team, see Jean Grey begin to understand her powers, among other influential events. But these are all chosen under the preface that it tells something about them. Everyone is focused on, but Jean Grey is meant to be the main character. Being a rather weak character in my opinion, this did not strengthen the narrative, but it wasn't a terrible choice; at least it wasn't Iceman or Angel.
These are the characters we've known, and, more or less, they act that way. Cyclops is steadfast and stubborn, Iceman's a goof, Beast's smart and awkward, Angel's... yah know, preppy or whatever, and Jean Grey has a bunch of girl problems (look, let's be honest, because she's the only girl here, she's been written to be not the most secure or strong female character). They're dialogue often comes off as odd or weird, but they are who we remember, none the less.
However, the subject matters that are covered here is mostly teenage stuff. You know, Jean Grey crushing on [insert guy here], Iceman being childish, petty arguments that push the teammates apart, etc. It's nothing groundbreaking or terribly interesting, and, if I didn't already have investment in these characters, it would have been a lot worse.
Something that's really telling about this book was that the villains, other than Magneto, matter little here, and even he is meant to be a side note in the bigger scheme of this story (the ending shows us that much). This is the forming of a team, not who they fight, but rather how they do it and if they can. If anything holds them back, it's often one another, and we see them squabble and squirm until they figure it all out.
This book would have gotten a much lower score if it wasn't $2 on the Marvel digital store the other day. It's by no means a terrible read, but it's nothing fantastic either. However, something tells me I'll stay away from the others in this series.
